Chinese Gangster Imperialism

Chinese imperialism is following an interesting course. ProPublica alleges Chinese government agencies support extensive organized crime networks in Europe, Latin America, and North America.

The Chinese Communist Party has an “alliance with Chinese organized crime overseas,” ProPublica writer Sebastian Rotella claims. “Gangsters help monitor and intimidate immigrant communities for the regime in Beijing, sometimes as leaders of cultural associations that are key players in China’s political influence operations and long-distance repression.”

Rotella claims he gets this information from “Western security officials.” He also alleges, “in exchange for their services as overseas enforcers and agents of influence, the Chinese state protects the mobsters.”

Underworld Front Line

Investigations in Europe expose the Chinese “underworld’s front-line role in a campaign to infiltrate the West, amass wealth and influence, and control diaspora communities as if they were colonies of Beijing’s police state,” Rotella writes.

For example, Chinese gangsters helped security officials organize informal “police stations” that monitor Chinese immigrants in Italy and Spain, ProPublica claims. Mob bosses, including some figures wanted in China, regularly travel to the People’s Republic and conduct…